How Spain’s Economy and the La Liga are Intertwined

For the past few years, Spain has been under a really bad deluge of economic issues. The unemployment in the country, for example, has reached an all-time high with over 6 million jobless individuals. This increases the number of households with practically no income, the figure getting pegged at two million.

This is very much like the time of the historic great depression, according to some financial analysts. But, in 2010 and 2012, this wide-ranging and far-reaching economic problem in Europe was for a very short while, forgotten by most Spaniards thanks to their national football team. Spain won the World Cup and UEFA’s EURO. For most of these suffering Spaniards, there was great cause for celebration.

The Effect of the Failing Spanish Economy on Football

One cannot deny the fact that this sport helps with the country’s GDP. For example, for every one million British fans watching a game in a stadium in England, the government actually earns £700m.

After the amazing wins from those major tournaments, some financial experts saw a slight increase in the fiscal economic growth of the country; but that was short-lived.

Unfortunately, the continuous collapse of the country’s economy is proving too much for a lot of the Spanish leagues and teams. Some of them like Deportivo are at risk of getting shut down due to tax debts.

It is also affecting the unbeatable national team as well. Usually, games are televised. However, the Spain versus Belarus match was not shown on TV like the others in the past. This may be a sign of future things to come. Some Spanish players like Xabi Alonso of Real Madrid say that they are not immune from these problems.

Continuous Funding of Football Drains Economy

Some economists are saying that these debt-ridden football clubs are actually contributing to the current financial problems of the country.

Cristiano Ronaldo of Real Madrid earns about a million Euros every month. Lionel Messi of FC Barcelona, on the other hand, gets over 2 million Euros. Although those two teams are one of the biggest in the countries and supposedly the richest, they owe the country a lot in taxes.

Some people from other countries, which are part of the European Union, are not very happy about this. Some Germans are even complaining that they shouldn’t be shelling out for the salaries of teams their favorites are up against.

There are a lot of problems that the country is facing these days and, although football can help Spaniards forget about it, the government should definitely do something about debt collection immediately.